Tales from the Bus
by somanyfeelings
Summary: Various drabbles from Tumblr prompts. (Most either Skyeward or Skimmons)
1. Kids Again (Skimmons)

_Hi! These are various drabbles I've written on tumblr. If you'd like to send a prompt, my URL is arisingskye._

_Prompt: Skye and Simmons get de-aged to little kids and this somehow shows the team how they grew up differently. Maybe Ward gets touched by Skye's past._

* * *

There's a bright flash of light, a beat of silence, and the sound of Fitz's "oops," and Coulson is smart enough to go check in on the lab. Inside stands a shell-shocked Fitz and two young kids who look suspiciously like Skye and Simmons. Some contraption stands in the corner emitting a scarily black smoke. "Oops," Fitz repeats. Coulson merely sighs.

No one can figure out how to turn them back, though Fitz certainly tries. Coulson seems to find the whole thing amusing, Ward simply looks exhausted, and no one was willing to ask May. So they set up a babysitting schedule, and because Ward doesn't outwardly complain Fitz puts him down first.

He trudges down to the lab, expecting the worst. Grant Ward has been tortured, imprisoned, and almost killed, and none of it was as scary as babysitting Skye and Simmons as children.

"Are you two.. okay down there?" he hazards. His face just barely peeks around the corner. There are squeals of various affirmations so high pitched that Ward is fairly sure they're not human.

The shift lasts only two hours, he reminds himself, and he can make it through.

By the end, however, Ward is barely hiding his amusement. There is a certain innocence in the two children that is more than a little endearing, and they're all over each other in a way that grown-up Simmons would never condone.

"Is it almost Christmas?" Skye questions. Ward knew she loved the holiday; the strings of lights she had hung around the ship were evidence enough. "I hope it's almost Christmas. I don't get many presents at the orphanage, but I think I will this year." His brow furrows. It is a detail that she would never confide. Pride is important to Skye: she's been building her strength for a long time. "I usually just ger hand-me-downs. Or at least that's what people call them."

"My parents get me lots of presents!" Simmons counters, launching into an explanation about the chemistry set she'd been given one year. "My parents are lovely. You should come over, Skye." She grins so widely that Ward finds himself grinning too.

Ward watches the interaction with something bordering on affection. He had never been one for kids after his own childhood, yet the two girls managed to spark something within him. Maybe admiration is the right word, for he cannot help but admire the honesty present in both of them. Or maybe it simply is affection for the people with whom he now lives.

His shift is over before he realizes how long it's been, and Ward gives each girl a hug before leaving. May doesn't comment.

They're back to their normal selves soon enough, and the entire bus somehow decides to never talk about it again. Ward is part of the pact, but that doesn't stop him from getting Skye a large pile of presents. She doesn't know what to say, so Simmons offers a grateful smile for her.


	2. Not Just Sheep Anymore (Skimmons)

_Prompt: simmons is experimenting on her cloning ray and skye volunteers to be a test subject_

* * *

"No."

Skye is tempted to think that she should fear for her life: May does not seem pleased. But underneath the icy look and monosyllabic speech, Skye sees amusement. Maybe she's just going crazy, though.

She offers an obnoxiously innocent smile and elbows Simmons, who does the same. The answer is the same. "No."

"But May," Simmons begins, and Skye figures it's a good idea to have the scientist explain, because her reasons for wanting to be cloned aren't likely the most mature. "It's completely safe, totally temporary, and it's quite likely going to be a historical scientific achievement."

"It's magic," Skye murmurs, and the death glares she receives from both agents are enough to shut her up.

May rolls her eyes and leaves. They take that as a yes.

Then there are seven of her.

Fitz is fairly sure that the amount of resigned anger on Ward's face is proportional to the amount of Skye's wandering around. He decides to find a formula. Ward, on the other hand, is wondering how quickly they could make an emergency landing in order to get him off the plane. Coulson is amused.

Skye realizes that her holiday decorating could use the help of, well, herself, and soon the interior of plane is absolutely covered with various lights and trinkets. One of them hangs mistletoe, and no one knows which Skye to blame.

Simmons isn't really blaming anyone, because she catches the real Skye under the mistletoe by the lab. Fitz walks by and pretends to gag.

Yet, by the time the clones have disappeared, the crew has agreed that maybe a little holiday spirit is a fine thing. Simmons gives Skye a subtle high five.


	3. Zumba (Skyeward)

_Prompts: Hi! If you'd still like ptompts for skyeward? I would love a fic where skye teaches grant something, so their mentor - pupil roles are reversed._

* * *

"No, Skye. That's ridiculous." Ward gives her a tiny little frown, but the tinge of amusement belies its strength.

Skye rolls her eyes. "Your face is ridiculous." It doesn't help her case.

So after what feels like hours of her begging and grinning and pleading, he gives in. "Fine. You can teach me Zumba." It takes all of her willpower not to cheer.

He's not entirely sure where this all started or why it had to be him, but soon enough Ward finds himself doing some odd dance routine to Shakira. They're in the hangar and the music is blasting and he really hopes that no one walks in to see what they're up to.

Ward wants to die. The only redeeming factor is- Well. Skye's not a bad dancer, and he's suddenly very, very aware of the fact that she's not bad looking either. It's a horrifying realization.

Skye, on the other hand, is loving life. She'd be loving it more if she had found a way to capture a video of the whole thing, but simply watching him try to dance is just fine. Funnily enough, he's not half bad. Apparently the grace he exhibits during fights somehow transmits to dance, and it's almost intriguing.

Except: "You look like a robot, Ward." He glares at her. She grins back. "Move! Swing your hips! Look like you want to be here!" Ward gives her the world's most fake smile and resists the urge to roll his eyes. He tries a little bit harder, beginning to sway his hips just barely. Skye claps. "I knew you could move, R2!"

After that he works harder. And it's fun, weirdly fun, with Skye showing him the moves and catchy music blaring.

She only knows a few routines by heart, so their Zumba session is over fairly quickly. Ward begins to walk away and suddenly stops. There is a beat of silence, and then another. "That was fun. I lik- We should do it again sometime."

Skye's so happy she could kiss him. So she does.


	4. Silence (Skyeward)

_Prompt: Can you make a songfic to Still by Daughter for skyeward_

* * *

You're not sure what's happening.

You vaguely know when it started, that one night when tempers were short and everyone on the bus was fuming. It was all because of something someone had said that wasn't the cause of any anger anymore. Small spaces are weird like that. The initial spark of the discomfort had long since dissipated, yet its effects were more visible than ever. You sat in the corner, looking out the window at nothing and thinking about how maybe it wasn't nothing at all, and she came and sat next to you.

_Still with feet touching_

_Still with eyes meeting_

_Still our hands match_

_Still with hearts beating_

Your eyes were glazed over and you could look at her like you never had a chance to. There weren't any labels anymore, no shouts of hacker or traitor or trainee. Nothing at all. Suddenly her eyes were brighter, and you realized how large and expressive they were; her hair seemed softer, and you think of how long she must've spent curling it; her smile appeared kinder, though you wonder if it was always that kind; and she wasn't perfect but _that_ was almost perfect, and it was so cliched that your brow furrowed and you couldn't help but frown.

She frowns then too, worried that you were alone for a reason. She goes to leave, and you reach out at the last second to say wait, don't go. So she doesn't.

_Still with feet touching_

_Still with eyes meeting_

_Still our hands match_

_Still with hearts beating_

You sit with her, silent. She follows your gaze out the window, and you wonder if she sees the same something you do. Because it's certainly not nothing anymore. Then the moment is over and people meander in and everything returns to normal except you.

You may not know what's happening. You may know when it started. It doesn't truly matter, though, because you don't want it to end.


	5. Snugglebug (Skyeward)

_Prompt: If you're still taking SkyeWard prompts, could you please write something with Skye wanting to cuddle and Ward being terribly awkward at it, so Skye has to "teach" him how to properly do it. Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas! :D_

* * *

Ward admits it quietly, quickly one night. It's right after they finish a training session that didn't involve much training at all, and Skye has begun to drag him toward her room because "you don't snore so you're going to come cuddle with me," and he looks at her and stammers out, "I-I don't really know how to cuddle." He wears a frown that disguises what Skye knows is a deep embarrassment, but it's still difficult not to laugh.

He certainly doesn't look the part of a cuddler: he's Ward, all muscle and height and grumpiness, and she's not actually all that surprised he's not big on snuggling. But if there's something Skye's good at it's a puppy face, and he has surrendered within minutes.

There's only one condition: she has to teach him.

Which is weird, because, like, it's cuddling. She gives him the most annoyed look she can manage given that's excited beyond belief and deadpans, "Get into bed. Hug. Sleep. Congratulations." Ward rolls his eyes, and Skye tells him that his eyes will get stuck cross-eyed, so he does it again.

They wordlessly go to get ready, and he looks so damn grumpy when she steals his toothpaste that she can't hold back a grin. Then they're in her bunk laying down and he might just be wondering why he's never done this before. Skye looks satisfied enough, though, so Ward says nothing.

She turns to face Ward and wraps her arms around him, encouraging him to do the same. He offers a shy smile, and she replies with a quiet, "I told you it was easy."

They're both out within minutes, and the next morning she makes a point of telling everyone over breakfast what a good student Ward is when he decides to listen. If he didn't love her, he'd hate her.


	6. Switcheroo (Fitzsimmons)

_Prompt: can you do a prompt about fitzsimmons changing genders_

* * *

"AC, something went wrong in the lab."

Skye is standing breathlessly in the doorway, and Coulson looks up. "What happened?"

She waves her hands vaguely and shrugs. "Fitz is Simmons and Simmons is Fitz, except they're not. I mean, they're themselves, but I think they've switched genders. I couldn't tell over all the shrieking in there that's either in excitement or horror." Coulson decides to never let Skye deliver news again. He stands anyway and gestures for her to show him.

Skye was right: they were shrieking. And the usually pristine lab was nearly as messy as Skye's bunk. "Fitzsimmons!" Coulson calls, and Skye's belief in magic is reaffirmed because, wow, no one listens to her like that.

The scientists immediately quiet. "Yes?"

He points toward the pair, saying, "What exactly happened in here?"

Well, Fitz explains. Skye's already completely shocked by the sight of Fitz's mannerisms coming from a girl, then he begins some monologue about their dangerous scientific experiment ("We must've forgotten to tell you, Agent Coulson.") and how it went wrong and they weren't sure how to turn themselves back.

Half confused and half amused, Skye rolls her eyes. "Pull a fairy tale and kiss each other."

There's silence. And the silence continues to the point of making Skye feel super awkward, so she opens her mouth to either apologize or utter another really bad joke.

"That could work," Simmons exclaims, and it takes all of Coulson's effort not to sigh helplessly. "See, I think our error came from our close proximity. The experiment went wrong because we were both in the room, so it — how do I put this simply? — got confused. It, well, switched our genders." She continues to speak, noting how a kiss could effectively reset the machine and reserve its effect, and Skye really begins to think she's either dreaming or insane or quite possibly both,

Sometime during this Coulson had managed to slip away, so it's just Skye and the scientists. Or really it's the scientists and then Skye's there awkwardly, because by this point they're giving each other a look that so clearly illuminates their crushes that Skye wants to die. Third wheeling is the worst, she decides.

Figuring neither Fitz nor Simmons would notice her departure at this point, she goes to leave. Right as she turns the corner to walk upstairs there's another shriek. "It worked!"

So Skye turns back around to congratulate them, and they're kissing again in celebration. Just her luck.


	7. Mad (Skyeward)

_Prompt: skyeward arguing then they're kissing_

* * *

She's not easy to argue with.

He sits with his arms crossed on the counter, the ever-present frown on his face deepened and his brow furrowed. He really, really hates arguing with Skye. Ward prides himself on being logical, on arguing facts and explanations and truths, and Skye is sitting across from him repeating his words like a child.

"Just talk to me," he huffs.

"Just talk to me," she mimics. It's infuriating.

She refuses to meet his gaze, wide eyes clouded with anger and hurt. Neither is sure why they're arguing anymore, just that she got mad during training and stormed off to have a drink and now they're here.

"Skye-" he beings once more, and she simply glares. "God, Skye, let me talk to you. Stop being immature." This makes her sigh and look up, resigned to her fate. "Why are you so pissed off?"

There's a beat of silence with only the whirring of the plane in the background, and then Skye speaks. "You just told me to let you talk and to stop being immature. Listen to your own advice." He opens his mouth to object, so she quickly raises her hand to shush him. "See? Don't talk. My turn because, yeah, I get it. You're the spiffy SO. It's literally your job to be a know-it-all. But you have this, like, superiority complex. You have this 'I must protect people' thing, and, look, it'd be nice and all, 'cept it's happens to be annoying as hell." Her turns aren't entirely true, for he has saved her life several times thus far, and she knows his protectiveness is something to admire.

Yet his face is carefully blank, and for some reason that angers her even more. "Dammit, Ward, you don't even care. I know you're here to train me, but I need you to accept that I'm not completely incompetent. You came in with the idea that working with a team would be the end of your whole damn world because you were better than everyone, and you need to let that go." Skye takes a deep breath and he's struck by the surprising logic of her argument, the fact that it rings true, much to his shame.

His face is still composed, but it is a curious blankness - raised eyebrows, an incredibly slight smile - in the place of forced, angry composure. Yet when he turns to talk to Skye, she's gone.

She's not quiet - she never has been - so it's easy to trace her footsteps as heading toward her bunk. He stands, knocking over her shot glass in the process, and runs out without bothering to pick it up. It's probably a violation of about ten of Coulson's cleanliness and security rules, but he couldn't care less.

Ward doesn't know what to say to her when he catches up, yet he tugs on her sleeve, and she spins, and they're awkwardly face to face.

So he kisses her like it's the most natural thing in the world, and he's struck by the frightening realization that it was. It was entirely natural.

She kisses back for a long moment before realizing what's happening and pulling away. "Wha-?"

Ward shrugs in almost helplessness and offers a quiet, "I'm sorry." He doesn't say anything else because she's nodding; she gets it and she gets him, and he wants to be more scared than he is.

She doesn't argue when their lips meet again, and then again. That's probably a good thing given how much he hates arguing with her.


	8. Superman (Skyeward)

_Prompt: Skyeward based on the 1x12 stills_

* * *

Skye's alone at the bar when he sits next to her, and he looks fantastic enough in that damn suit for her to want to order another drink.

She doesn't, though, if only to avoid getting drunk and saying something completely, irrevocably stupid. Like "I love you." The thought comes out of nowhere and she coughs into her beer in surprise. He gives a concerned look; she shakes her head.

"You look like Clark Kent," Skye offers instead of an explanation, belatedly wondering if she might already be somewhat drunk.

Ward simply chuckles. "Everyone knows Superman doesn't exist."

And now it's easy, Skye thinks. She knows how to flirt with him, how to push his buttons and have fun and actually make him grin or laugh. It's disappointingly easy, truly: the ease makes it that much less real. "Isn't that the whole point of Clark Kent? To pretend he's not Superman?"

"Gee, Skye, I guess you've found me out." He flags down the bartender and orders the same beer she's drinking, and it occurs to her how relaxed he is tonight. It's rare, even more so lately, but it's a nice change from their usual interactions. "I'm Superman. The cat's out of the bag."

"Can I be Lois Lane?" Skye blurts, figuring that if one cat was being let out, she might as well empty the whole figurative bag. Suddenly she's ever so grateful for the dimness of the bar, if only because it hides the burning flush painting her cheeks.

Ward looks at her for a moment, expression frustratingly unreadable. The silence extends to the point of awkwardness, and she opens her mouth to retract the statement when he speaks. "I generally like to at least kiss a girl before I show her the cape and fly her around the city." It's not an overly suggestive remark, but there's something in his teasing tone and almost bashful smirk that makes her heart race.

"Then why don't you?" It's a comment Skye immediately regrets, and she screws her eyes shut for a beat.

She'd be horrified, except for the fact that he tilts his head in mock pensiveness. And then he does exactly as she asked.


	9. Unsaid (Skyeward)

_Prompt: skyeward drunk_

* * *

Ward's a moody drunk. No surprise there, Skye thinks. Being drunk tends to simply exacerbate personality traits rather than create new ones, and the whole plane knows he can be damn moody.

It's amusing at first, probably because she's tipsy enough to enjoy his slurred speech and general confusion. Then she listens to his words and hears what he's saying, hears the stories of his horrible childhood. It's not funny after that.

"A-And my brother, he used to… Used to hit us, both of us, whenever he felt like it," Ward confesses. "He'd hit us whenever he thought something was unfair, whenever we did something he didn't want us to do."

She bites her lower lip in concern and places her hand on his upper arm. There are words she wants to say, yet he likely won't remember them come sunrise.

"I need to protect you guys," he continues, "because I couldn't protect anyone. I couldn't protect my little brother, so I need to protect you guys." And she wants to slap some sense into him, tell him that he can protect people so, so well, and that he's proven himself ten times over. But, again, she doesn't.

Instead Skye grasps his arm more tightly and begins to steer him toward his bunk. He falls into bed with a completely undignified thump that would horrify the hell out of him normally. "Stay."

The word is spoken quietly, and she barely catches it. He's looking right at her, though, and just like she can't say anything else, she can't say no.

Ward is sprawled out across the small mattress, so Skye wedges herself awkwardly on the floor, tired and barely drunk enough to fall asleep right there.

There's a lot she could've said, she knows, and she almost regrets that she didn't. For someone so talkative, her silence had quickly become nearly overwhelming. Yet he isn't the only person who can protect people, and when he wakes up the next morning with a guarded look in his eyes that wonders what he said, she shrugs and simply states that "It was no big deal. You were pretty boring, actually." Because Ward wasn't talking to her, Skye realizes. He was saying what he needed to say, and sometimes listening is more important than speaking ever could be.

It doesn't prevent her from occasionally cracking a joke about how dorky he looked drunk, though.


	10. Embrace (Skyeward)

_Prompt- can you do a short post 1x11 skyeward ficlet? i know that's super vague but idk i'm dying for a fluffy story after that ep and your writing is just amaze_

* * *

It's late at night when she knocks on his door, late enough that everyone else is probably asleep except May, and no one's really sure if she ever sleeps. So the knock is quiet, and if Ward weren't so distracted and unable to sleep himself he would've missed it.

Yet he hears it just fine, and he cracks open the door. Skye stands almost shyly outside his door, wearing a plain tank top and some garish blue and orange pajamas pants that, if he's not mistaken, have zombie cupcakes on them. He doesn't ask.

"Hey," she murmurs. Ward can't tell if her voice is quiet for the sake of their sleeping companions or for her own sake. She repeats the greeting and it cracks slightly toward the end, so he gives her a concerned look.

There's a beat of silence and thought before Skye hugs him. She steps forward and wraps her arms around him tightly and thinks that for someone who's so cut and totally not cuddly-looking, he gives damn good hugs. He breathes in sharply, tensing for a split second before relaxing into the embrace. They stand like this, silent and nearly reverent, for what seems like hours before she speaks again.

"You stood up for me." It's a statement of fact in the place of her usual joking questions. It's her way of thanking him and maybe even forgiving him.

It's not a question of whether he trusts her, it's the realization that he does.

Because Skye might know May's reasons for saying what she did to Victoria Hand, but that doesn't mean she agrees with them. The ends, to Skye, didn't justify the means, and there's still a flash of hurt in her eyes. But he had protected her and would always protect her, just as he said he would.

"Course I did," Ward whispers back, and his tone is nowhere near as lighthearted as he meant it to be.

But maybe it's better that way, because Skye slowly pulls away and raises her eyebrows just slightly. He repeats himself. "Of course I did. I always will."

And it might not be a typical declaration of love, but they both know it's his way of saying just that, so rather than walk away Skye steps forward once more, moving even closer, and decides she's never going back.


	11. Second Time's The Charm (Skyeward)

_prompt: skyeward first kiss_

* * *

Technically their first kiss is on some mission. It's supposed to be a totally easy training mission, but of course everything goes wrong. (Skye tries to joke around to relieve the tension and comments that "Dude, you totally jinxed us. Everyone knows you don't say that a mission's gonna be easy because that always means everything, like, ever is going to go wrong." He doesn't laugh, because he's actually worried about getting them out alive.)

He pulls her into some super sketchy alley to try and lose whoever is tailing them, but it turns out that there's more than one guy. And, of course, one sees them. He reaches for his phone or gun or something, and Skye decides she doesn't really want to find out what it is so she leans over and starts making out with Ward like they're some lovestruck teenagers on a first date. Their tale apparently decides he's found the wrong pair (an affinity for PDA was not in their description, thank you very much), so he moves on. Back in the alley, Ward freezes for a moment or twenty but then starts to respond, and if they stay there for a while longer than necessary neither of them is going to say anything. When they break apart they realize the guy is gone, and the rest of the mission (thankfully) goes right from there.

Until the pair is back on the bus and everything gets awkward as hell. Ward gets all defensive, saying that he had it figured out, and Skye's just shrugging and rolling her eyes because _sure, _C3PO.

Then he pauses and blurts, "Did you mean it?" It comes right after some comment about the impracticality of her shoes and how she should think about that in the future, and she's a little confused at first. He elaborates. "The kiss." She doesn't know what answer he's looking for, so she doesn't say anything at all. "Because that's not how I wanted our first kiss to go." Ward realizes what he had said only after the fact, and Skye doesn't think she's ever seen him blush so profusely.

There are so many things Skye wants to do. A good chunk of them involve making inappropriate jokes that she can immediately rule out, and she's left with either A) poking him to make sure he's real or B) kissing him again.

She chooses B, and as she leans forward she murmurs that "Mission kisses don't count." They both agree that the second is a much better first kiss.


	12. Inevitable (Skimmons)

_prompt: skimmons first kiss_

* * *

Honestly, it's a wonder it didn't happen sooner.

Every time Skye walks by Jemma gets all flustered and drops what she's doing to blush and stammer, and Fitz has to (lovingly) glare at his lab partner until she remembers that, yes, they were doing something. Right.

At first he's worried that it's a one-sided thing, that she's going to get her heart broken by Skye. Then he walks by the kitchen one day to hear Ward make some joke about how maybe she'd be making more practice in training if she could just keep her eyes off Jemma for a minute or two, and Fitz almost dies.

He runs back to the lab as fast as he can and stammers some totally unintelligible statement about how "Skye… you and her… she likes… you should ask!" (It's okay. Jemma speaks Fitz.) Then he gives her a thumbs up and leaves just as Skye walks downstairs to work out (read: not work out).

It's so cheesy and romance movie-esque that it's horrible, because they're both giving each other the dorkiest looks and realizing that they're finally alone and that this ticking time bomb is about to go off. (They'll joke about it later, but right now Jemma is much too concerned with the wonder that is her yoga pants and Skye with British accents.) And it's technically Skye who walks into the lab and right up to Jemma and prompts the whole thing, but Jemma is the one to lean in and take that leap.

Yet before they could continue there's a sigh from outside the lap, and the startled pair turn to see Ward giving a very smug Fitz five dollars.

Skye's more amused than anything, but Jemma attempts to glare at Fitz. It doesn't really work, though, because Skye's decided to kiss her again.


	13. Gone (Skyeward)

_prompt: skye dies_

* * *

She's been out cold ever since the strike, for 17 hours and 32 minutes, approximately 17 hours, 31 minutes, and 59 seconds too long.

It's been 1,052 minutes, or 63,120 seconds, or .048 years, Fitz provides, and Jemma is too panicked to think about significant figures because all of them seem significant when it's Skye's life on the line.

There isn't anything anyone can do for her on the bus besides stare, wide-eyed and anguishing, at the pallor of her skin against the dark of her vest.

And there's nothing any of them can do at the SHIELD hospital either, and so they crowd outside the room, feeling all the world like a waste of space, a blockage.

None of them are accustomed to the ground not rumbling, to the silence in the place of the airplane's whoosh, but it seems almost fitting that what lies beneath their feet has stilled just as Skye has.

Jemma cries, silently and respectfully, but no one else can.

Coulson hands her a tissue, and when she reaches out he takes a moment to squeeze your hands, to say "I know" in a way that shared tears never could, and she recognizes this with a nod because a smile seems frightfully out of place.

Ward is staring at the dappled tiles of the floor like they're enrapturing, enchanting, but rather than bring him solace each pair of feet that passes reminds him of what Skye may never do again.

He sees the doctor first, sees his feet in tennis shoes and begins to wonder about that choice of shoes when May nudges him. Ward glances up. Sees the look on the doctor's face and knows, just knows.

For all intents and purposes. Brain dead. Little to no chance of survival.

It doesn't matter what the man says, because they all know what news he's come to deliver.

Jemma gasps and covers her mouth with both hands, and Ward instinctively embraces her, cradles her to his chest in memory of their friend, their partner.

One by one the team steps in to say goodbye.

Her eyes are closed, her skin cold, and her fingernails still chipped and half purple, and Ward is horrified by these thoughts, by the fact that she is so soon a body instead of a life.

And so he leaves and Coulson enters, and Ward doesn't realize until later that he never spoke, never said "good job" or "goodbye" or "I'm sorry," and so he does every time he steps up to the punching bag, every time one of them calls out for Skye only to realize that she doesn't answer, can't answer, won't answer.

It's more fitting a tribute anyway, Ward knows. She wouldn't want a fuss.

And it takes him weeks, but one day he picks up her coffee cup from the cupboard shelf — "Coffee is life," it reads — and pours his own coffee inside. And for the first time since that day, he feels okay.


	14. Laughter (Skyeward)

_prompt: 5 times Skye makes Ward really, truly laugh_

* * *

I.

Ward is fairly certain that the words "Skye" and "coordinated" should never go in the same sentence unless there's an obvious "is not" in between.

He's not even sure how it happened: they were walking down the completely flat corridor, and then she was on the ground. Her legs just seem to collapse beneath her, and she ends up looking like she's trying to make a carpet angel.

Skye is up as quickly as she had fallen, quickly dusting herself off as though nothing had happened. Yet she misses the piece of tape now stuck in her hair, a small shred of glowing orange amidst her shiny black hair.

Ward isn't sure why, but he starts to laugh. And when she turns to amusedly glare at him he laughs even harder.

II.

Apparently Skye loves pajamas. The entire bus realizes this quickly, because she doesn't seem to take them off unless it's truly necessitated. More than that, though, she has so many pairs: plaid and penguins and cupcakes and moose.

She often wears them to mission briefings. (Skye claims this is because briefing often take place much too early in the morning, but this statement is somewhat invalidated that she wears them to the midday briefings too.)

And it seems no one told her that Victoria Hand was onboard to brief them.

Skye slumps in with a cup of coffee and her purple plaid pants, and the look Hand sends her is positively frightening. Skye's face blanches, and she glances over to Ward in the hopes that he can somehow save her life.

Yet the combination of Skye's expression and Hand's exasperation is too much, and he laughs instead.

III.

"Knock knock!" Skye calls, throwing punches between the words.

She's supposed to be working out — and she is, but just barely — so Ward doesn't answer.

Skye waits a second and then two before continuing on her own. "Who's there?" she pretends to ask, deepening her voice.

"To!" She gets more animated as she goes, stopping punching with one hand to wave it around. He rolls his eyes from his perch on the stairwell.

"To who?"

"No, it's 'to whom!'" It's so not funny that it kind of is, but Skye begins to crack up at her own joke, and her amusement is enough to send Ward laughing as well.

IV.

Ward laughs at the mere idea of Skye cooking, but the reality is even better than his imagination.

She announces that she's going to go make pasta — "I can't mess this up!" — and he goes to get the fire extinguisher. By the time he returns, she's staring, stricken, at the smoking pot.

"What did I do wrong?"

He doesn't even bother to go over, guessing, "You forgot the water, didn't you?" Her mouth opens in a silent "oh."

Ward puts a hand on her shoulder, but the conciliatory effect is dampened by his inability to stop laughing.

V.

And then it happens: Ward finds her scrapbook.

It's a veritable treasure trove of embarrassing pictures, and he's chuckling by the second page.

She enters the room soon after he finds it, and her eyes widen. "No. Nonono," she insists, trying to grab the book. "No. Don't you dare flip that page, jerk."

He does.

A younger Skye stands there, dressed in full Captain America gear. This, he supposes, is the fabled cosplay outside Stark Tower. The outfit is actually very well done, and he's a little worried by how good she looks in it. Yet it's so dorky and so Skye, and he laughs so hard he snorts.

But good or not, the real Skye is about to start shooting death rays from her eyes.

"You know," Ward spits out between gasps. "Coulson would love this."


End file.
